nimh wrote:Foxfyre wrote:[Obama:] "I know it was The New Yorker's attempt at satire. I don't think they were entirely successful with it," Obama said. "But you know what? It's a cartoon ... and that's why we've got the First Amendment."
How is this "making hay of it"? Isn't he doing exactly what he should be doing - downplaying it, shrugging it off? Considering he wasnt going to be able to avoid the question, what would you have
had him say? ]
You have to put my comment within its full context which of necessity requires that you use all the excerpt that I posted and linked:
Quote:Barack Obama to the New Yorker: It's your right - but you weren't right.
In his first substantive talk about the magazine's inflammatory cartoon depicting him and his wife as fist-bumping terrorists, Obama told CNN's Larry King the image fueled misconceptions and insulted Muslim Americans.
"I know it was The New Yorker's attempt at satire. I don't think they were entirely successful with it," Obama said. "But you know what? It's a cartoon ... and that's why we've got the First Amendment."
In other words, he really isn't blowing or shrugging it off, but he is obviously peeved and, if he does accept that it isn't about him, he tries to relate it to an unacceptable image of Muslims.
The fact is, none of us who got the satire related it to Muslims per se but we understood that it was showing the absurdity of how the Obama's are portrayed by those who make up stuff about him to instill fear.
Those who didn't get the satire also didn't see it as an insult to Muslims but rather incorrectly saw it as an insult to the Obamas.
What Obama should have said is that "Hey its a cartoon. It's free speech. And it correctly portrays the silly things that some people say or think about Michelle and me. Lighten up people and see it for what it is."
THAT would have been classy and staying above the fray. Instead he either still doesn't understand the satire or, if he did, he very much appears to be using it incorrectly on purpose to pander to Muslim people.
Again, if the satire wasn't about him but about those who mischaracterize him, then the satire isn't about Muslim people either but could show how they are mischaracterized as well.
I don't think he or his spekespeople have done him any favors in how he handled it.
:wink:
